


Puppies

by 2space_lesbo1



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Happy, Hopper is Good Dad, I needed fluff, Puppies, This is fluff, actually, eleven gets a puppy, literally just fluff, one - Freeform, so i wrote fluff, there is like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-01-29 16:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12635229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2space_lesbo1/pseuds/2space_lesbo1
Summary: Mike has a surprise to show Eleven.





	1. Mike the Puppy

**Author's Note:**

> I um... I needed some more Mileven in my life and there wasn't enough fanfiction for it so I wrote some of my own. There's no excuse for this except I needed fluff and puppies are cute and Eleven needs a puppy okay? Okay.

Eleven did not know much about the world outside of the lab even if she has been living with Hopper for three hundred and fifty-eight days. She hadn’t been allowed to explore much outside of their cabin house and when she did explore the previous few days she did not get to see much. Now, as she is led down what is called a sidewalk through the middle of town by Mike, she is seeing once more how much she has missed in her short life. The first time she had seen everything in what Mike calls the small town of Hawkins had been a blur from the backseat of Mike’s bicycle. Now she can actually see everything. She can also see how many people there are, how many people there are that could turn out to be bad people. It makes her nervous.

But Mike’s hand around her arounds is a warm reassurance and comfort that everything can and will be alright. Everything should be and is over. The bad men are gone and she closed the gate. She got to dance with Mike at the Snow Ball and now gets to be led to a “surprise”- as Mike had called it- and everything would be alright.

It’s just a hard thing to accept.

She stops when Mike does at a wood door in the front of a building. She looks up at the sign, squinting her eyes to read it only to frown, finding that she cannot. Mike pauses and grins at her and she finds herself unable to stop a smile from turning her lips upwards as well. Seeing him smile always makes her smile. He has such a nice smile.

“This is where the surprise is,” Mike told her and his grin only widens, excitement lighting his eyes. She glances back at the wood door but cannot tell what is inside. And because she can’t read the sign- she and Hopper have been working on improving her reading and such- she has no idea what could be inside. Mike’s hand tightens momentarily around hers. “You ready?”

“Yes,” she said softly with a small nod and Mike nods back, grabbing the doorknob and pushing the door open. He leads her in and she gasps at the sight.

A group of small, adorable puppies are gathered in the middle of a small enclosure, all whining and whimpering. 

Eleven’s heart is becoming incredibly warm at the sight and she grins even wider at Mike now, letting out a small noise of her own excitement. Mike chuckles at her clear excitement and gestures to the puppies. “Go on, El,” he said and his grin is somehow wider. She hesitates a moment before releasing his hand, hurrying to the side of the enclosure. She drops to her knees, saying a soft greeting to them. She had never seen puppies in real life before- much less dogs, only ever seeing them on TV- but they are even cuter in person!

“Adorable,” she said, slowly reaching over the enclosure, lowering a hand towards one a bit further from the rest of the group. Mike drops down beside her, grinning at the puppies as well.The puppy Eleven had been reaching for chirrups a little, lightly nudging the tips of her fingers with a small, wet nose and she gasps. It scrapes it’s little paws across the tile floor to get closer, placing its front paws on the side of the enclosure to lick at her face. She gasps louder and draws back a little, looking at Mike with wide eyes. “Mike… It licked me.”

“Yeah,” Mike said and pats the puppy's head. It turns its large, brown eyes towards Mike, its pointed nose sniffing at his face as its floppy ears stick up a little. Its long body seems to be slightly hard for its stubby paws to move but it seems to figure it out as it goes. “That means it likes you, El.” He sounds completely excited and anyone could see the clear childlike admiration and awe in his eyes as he watches Eleven interact with the puppy.

“Likes… me?” She inquired softly, as though finding that hard to believe. Her mind flashes to all of the people she had killed in the past. To all the people who had tried to keep her prisoner. She swallows heavily and pushes those thoughts back best she can. The puppy licking her hand makes this task far easier.

“Well, of course,” Mike replied. “Who wouldn’t like you?”

Eleven smiles brightly yet shyly at him and Mike falls for her all over again. “Likes me,” she repeats, more assuredly this time.

“You want it?” Mike asked then and Eleven gasps, eyes snapping back to him. He smiles once more and motions to the puppy. “Hopper said you get to have a puppy. You want this one?”

She nods excitedly, rubbing the puppy’s ears as its small tail whacks the side of the enclosure. “Yes,” she informed, watching as Mike smiles and nods, pushing to his feet. She follows close behind him as she always does while they are out and about, listening to him speak with the store owner. The lady smiles at them and takes the money Mike offers before lifting the puppy from the enclosure. She’s moving to place it in a small box that has handles on the top, but Eleven steps forward, stopping her movements and saying the first thing to the adult:

“No.”

It’s quiet yet enforced and Mike nods in agreement. The lady smiles- seemingly more forced this time- before she hands the puppy to Eleven who gasps, carefully taking the small being into her arms, holding it close to her chest. The puppy pants excitedly, wriggling a little and licking its new master’s face happily. She hugs it to her chest as she and Mike exit. As the door closes behind them Mike glances back at her, heart melting at the sight of the little girl burying her face in the small dog’s long body.

“So,” he began and Eleven lifts her head, reaching her hand back out. He takes it. “What are you gonna name her?”

Eleven is silent for a moment and Mike assumes it’s so she can think. Then, she answers a moment later: “Mike.”

Mike looks back at her with wide eyes. “No no, it can’t be Mike,” he said quickly(though his heart had skipped a beat and his face flushed a bright red at the thought). 

“Why not?” she asked with a small tilt of her head, looking much like the puppy she is currently holding. Mike bites his lip and clears his throat.

“You know what, nevermind,” he said instead of giving her a reason as to why she should change the name. “You can keep it.”

The grin he receives from Eleven is enough to keep him from regretting his decision.

Hopper could convince her to change the name later. For now, Eleven has a small wiener dog named Mike and she is quite content with the fact.


	2. Sweater Harness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some people were wanting a second chapter so I wrote a second chapter. I may write another chapter if ya'll want more of Eleven and her puppy Mike ;)

Once Eleven got home with her new puppy Hopper has tried his best to convince her to name it differently. That she couldn’t have it named Mike because that would be much too confusing for everyone. At one point he had even tried to get Mike to help him with his case, assuming that the boy wouldn’t want Eleven to name a dog after him. But, surprisingly, Mike had stayed off to the side, watching with a small smile. 

Eleven kept the dog named Mike. 

Of course, there were a few rules that came with Eleven having a puppy. Hopper had thought it would be a good idea for Eleven to have a puppy, so she could have a sense of responsibility and have the undying loyalty that comes with having a dog, even if all of her friends already gave her that loyalty. 

The rules were that Eleven had to feed it, play with it, take it on walks, and teach it at least three tricks. She had accepted with a determined expression. 

Hopper had gone out not too long after to buy it appropriate dog food only to return and find Eleven feeding it Eggos. They had a nice conversation about proper food for dogs after that. 

Now, a day or two after Eleven had gotten the puppy, she is sat on the floor in the living room with the puppy in her lap, intently watching the TV. Hopper had gone to work not too long ago and while Mike would be here if he could be, but school was in session, so she was alone with her puppy. Hopper had told her that she would be going to school in about three hundred and fifty three more days and she was okay with that. She had a set time at least. And she can see Mike and Lucas and Dustin and Will. 

As she’s watching the TV her eyes widen when a certain ad comes on. It is an ad glorifying a brand new sweater harness made specifically for dogs. Eleven lifts the puppy- Mike- a little from her lap before scooting closer, blinking as another bright image of the sweater harness is put front and center. She smiles a bit at how it looks: a long piece of fabric that comes in all kinds of colors including red and blue. It also has all kinds of patterns on it; from paw prints to dog bones. “Pretty,” she whispers and as the ad is yelling it’s phone number Eleven realizes how much she wants the sweater harness for Mike. 

She quickly pushes to her feet and runs to the phone connected to the wall- Hopper had recently screwed it to the wall so she could easily contact her friends- and yanks it from its cradle. She places Mike on the floor and the puppy sniffs around for a moment before placing its front paws on her leg, panting up at her with her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. Eleven places the phone to her ear and begins to punch the phone number in despite the multiple warnings from Hopper to only use it once a day and only to her friends. She really wants this sweater for Mike. 

She bounces on the tips of her toes as the phone rings on the other side and she switches the TV off as it moves onto the next ad. She doesn’t care about the other ads currently, though, because she wants to get a pretty sweater harness for Mike. 

Finally after a minute or so someone picks up, “This is Bernyl’s Dog Company how may I help you?”

Eleven wets her lips nervously as she hears the voice on the other end and is silent for a moment. She had been so caught up in her excitement she’d forgotten that she would have to talk to someone she doesn’t know over the phone. Thoughts of the bad men tracing her phone call- as Hopper said they can do- now fills her mind and she begins to panic, greatly regretting calling now. In her panic she slams the phone back in is cradle and runs from the phone altogether, throwing herself on the couch. 

In her panic she had knock Mike from her leg. As she realizes this she frowns and pushes back up, about to call for her puppy only to see it trying its best to run across the wooden floor with stubby legs. Its small claws scrape across the wooden floor as it runs and it seems to be having great difficulty running but its tail is still wagging. 

“Mike,” Eleven said softly, sliding from the couch and onto the floor. Mike reaches her finally, climbing into her lap and licking her face with long swipes of its tongue. “I'm sorry.” But the puppy doesn’t seem to care that she had accidentally kicked it. It seems too invested in covering her face in tiny kisses and so she has to chuckle, scratching the insides of its ears. “Adorable.”

She doesn’t understand how the puppy doesn’t care that she had accidentally kicked it while running from the phone. She doesn’t understand how the puppy likes her so much, hurrying to moves it long body to her to lick her face continuously. She doesn’t understand how it loves her so much only after a day or two of living with her. With people if she had ever accidentally kicked them- like the time she had accidentally thrown Lucas through the air- they would have yelled at her and called her a freak. But not this puppy. This puppy seems to love her too much to do that already, and she doesn’t understand how. 

But she won’t question it. She loves Mike just as much as Mike loves her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya'll enjoy ;)


	3. Walk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe I wrote more because it's really fun to write this. And, this time, it's from Mike's point of view. Tell me how I did because I had no idea what I was doing while writing. Also, tell me if ya'll want even more chapters after this, I may write more ;)

Mike normally gets out of school before Hopper gets out of work for around an hour. He will either head over to Lucas’s, Will’s, or Dustin’s house to hang with his friend but on a couple of days a week he will sneak over to Eleven’s house. Like today. He had already snuck over yesterday, too, but he was wanting to see El and her dog… Mike. Maybe she had changed the name. 

He knocks the secret knock on the door and taps his foot while he waits for Eleven to unlock it. He frowns when it takes a moment longer but steps inside, greeted by the sight of Eleven say on the floor with her new puppy in her lap and he finds it utterly adorable at seeing her holding the small dachshund puppy. 

“Hey, El,” he greets and Eleven looks up from her puppy, smiling when she sees it's him. She then sets the puppy on the ground beside her and pushes to her feet, rushing over to hug him. 

“Mike,” she said in her soft tone as she pulls back. She then points at the phone Hopper had connected to the wall not too long ago, an expectant look on her face. “Will you… call them back?” Mike smiles at her slow speaking because while she had gotten much better at speaking throughout the year they had been separated she still has troubles. And, she normally much prefers not to speak in the first place. 

“Call who back?” Mike asked, glancing down at the ground as the puppy waddles over, looking up at him with big, brown eyes. They remind him of Eleven’s eyes. She’s always been good at mimicking the pleading eyes of a puppy, afterall. She probably isn’t even aware of this fact. But he hopes she never does become aware of it because Mike would do anything for her with the puppy dog eyes she can muster. “Also, you rename your dog?”

Eleven’s face scrunches up and she quickly shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest and Mike can’t believe this. “That’s going to get confusing, El,” he points out despite himself. 

“Mike,” she said, pointing at him. Then she points down at the dachshund puppy between them, sitting and looking up at Eleven. “And Mike.” He shakes his head at the thoughts but the defiant look in her eyes keeps him from saying anything more. Surprising that Hopper hadn’t been able to convince her to change the name, though. Ah well. “Anyway,” she reaches down and grabs his hand- his heart fluttering a moment-, leading him to the phone and pointing at it. “Will you call them back?”

Mike furrows his brows and looks at the phone and then Eleven. “Call who back?” he tries again and Eleven frowns deeply, glaring over at the TV. It switches through different channels before landing on one particular commercial talking about dogs vests or something.

“Them,” she said, pointing at the TV now.

“You want me to call the vest people?” he clarifies and she sharply nods, jabbing her finger towards the phone impatiently. Then she bends down and picks up her puppy, giggling a little when it licks her face. Mike watches a few moments before shaking himself. “Okay, El, I will, but I’ll have to do it when I’m home.”

“Not stupid,” she points out, shifting her hold on the puppy so she can pet it and it takes a moment for Mike to figure out what she means when she says that this time.

“Yeah, it’s not stupid,” he said in agreement and she nods, a small smile turning her lips upwards. “But I need money and my mom to do it. So I’ll do it when I get home.” Eleven sighs heavily but nods in the end, setting the puppy back on the ground. “I mean, we could take it on a walk right now, if you want.”

Eleven meets his eyes and grins, nodding once more. Mike nods as well and goes into the kitchen, knowing where the collar and leash are because he had seen them upon entering. As he’s stepping back to put the collar on Eleven grabs his wrist, stopping him. He meets her eyes and there’s a familiar dark emotion in them. She will sometimes have flashes back to when she was in the lab, back with her “Papaw” and Mike will normally have to bring her back.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong, El?” Mike asked in concern, lowering the collar and leash to better observe her face. She bites down on her lip and shakes her head, pointing at the leash. Another thing that usually happens when she’s having a flashback is she will become even more silent than normal and her actions have to be deciphered into words. He looks down at the leash and then the puppy and then Eleven, slowly connecting the dots. “Do you not want… Mike to have the leash or collar?”

Eleven shakes her head sharply, her pale face even paler. Mike swallows heavily and sets the leash and collar down, holding his hands up in surrender. Another thing he had noticed is when El is having a flashback with him, she freezes up but will still communicate no matter how minimal. With anyone else trying to talk to her during a flashback she shuts down completely and will even lash out. Mike doesn’t really know what to think of this except that it makes him feel kind of special in a way.

“Okay,” Mike said, keeping his voice softer than normal. She likes it when he does that. Must help and calm her. “No collar and no leash, see?” She nods again and the darkness is slowly leaving her eyes. She reaches out and he takes her offered hand. Another thing he’s noticed is after a flashback, if he’s there, she will always seek physical contact in any shape or form with him. This physical contact can range from holding hands, like now, to full on tackle hugs. “You still wanna take… Mike on a walk?” God that’s so weird.

“Yes,” Eleven said and her soft voice is even softer than usual. Mike tightens his hand around hers momentarily.

“You okay?” He asked and she nods. “Promise?”

“Promise,” she said with a tiny smile. But it’s enough for Mike. He’s expecting her to continue with one worded responses only for her to say: “I want to walk both Mikes.”

His face was incredibly hot after that, even when they stepped out into the cold weather, the small puppy hopping to keep up. She always knew what to say to make him blush without even really knowing. Even when it came to puppies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eleven loves both of her Mikes :)


	4. Mike's Tricks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I haven't updated this in a month cause I forgot to but I'd written this part a while back and i forgot about it but here's this part I hope you enjoy and I you do leave a comment and kudo please those fuel and inspire me to continue writing.

“You take… Mike on a walk yet?” Hopper asks a few days later, face scrunching up a little as he is still not used to calling a dog by the name of a kid he knows. He glances over at Eleven where she sits on the floor of the living room, pulling at a small, toy rope that Hopper had bought for the dog. Mike is pulling at the rope as Eleven shakes it a little bit, grinning at the small growls the puppy makes. “Also are you sure you want to keep that name?”

Eleven looks up at Hopper, not stopping the movements of her arm so that the puppy can still play. She frowns, eyes narrowing at the question and she nods sharply. “I like it,” she declared. “And yes, took Mike on a walk already.”

“Teach her any tricks?” Hopper then asked, pressing two pieces of bread together- one covered with peanut butter while the other is jelly. He then sets the sandwich on a plate and cuts it in half, lifting it and carrying it Eleven. She takes it and bites into one of the pieces, releasing the rope. Mike goes onto the play alone, shaking her head side to side as she runs off with the rope toy.

After she finishes chewing the piece she’d just bitten off she clicks her tongue and Mike comes running back over. “Comes when called,” she said, patting the puppy’s head. Mike then sniffs at the food she has and she lightly boops the tip of her nose.

“Just like the other Mike,” Hopper muttered to himself, mind flashing to how wrapped the human Mike is around Eleven’s little finger already. He swears that if Eleven were not the way she is now, Mike would be in a lot of trouble because he’d do anything for her. He’s already so in love and Eleven is as well. He shakes his head at the thoughts. Young love is ridiculous.

“What?” Eleven asks and he nearly curses himself for speaking too loudly. He pats her shoulder and pushes back to his feet.

“Nothing,” he said, heading back to the kitchen to make his own sandwich. “I was just saying how good that is. Any other tricks?”

Eleven purses her lips and stands as well, setting her plate on the nearby table. She then points down at Mike who tilts her head in curiosity up at her. “Spin,” she orders, twirling her finger and Mike’s ears perk at the word. The puppy stands and turns halfway, stumbling a little over her own body before finishing the spin, looking up at Eleven expectantly, tail wagging. Eleven smiles and tears off a piece of her sandwich, feeding it to the triumphant puppy.

“Good job, kid,” Hopper said with a smile. “Though, don’t feed it people food. It’s bad for dogs.”

She frowns but nods, pulling her plate away from the curious nose sniffing at the sandwich. “Can I go to town?” she asked suddenly and Hopper is surprised a moment. She doesn’t usually ask to leave the cabin, opting to ask for people to come to the cabin. The last time she had gone outside of the cabin and into town was when she got the puppy a few days ago and so she must be getting bored and stiff again. “Want to play… arcade games… and hopscotch with friends.”

“Hopscotch?” Hopper repeats, an image of Eleven and her group of friends playing the game meant for girls going through his mind. He snorts to himself and sets his plate on the table, sitting down. Eleven walks over and sits down across from him like normal, kicking her feet as she continues to eat, waiting for an answer. He hums a little and takes a bite of his own sandwich in consideration. “Perhaps. If you clean your room.”

Eleven’s face scrunches up in distaste and she glares at him. “My room is clean,” she protested and he can’t stop himself from laughing.

“Sure, El,” he said, shaking his head before pointing to her room. “Go back in there, see what a mess it is, clean it and I’ll consider it.”

She grumbles something about “mouth-breather” before she pushes her plate back, running for her room, Mike close behind. She closes the door after herself and Hopper barks another small laugh. Even superpowered teenagers act childish sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope ya'll enjoy ;)


End file.
